Actor-singer Maya Hawke says being the daughter of star parents Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke was a contributing factor in landing her a role in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood".
The 25-year-old -- who made her acting debut with "Ladyworld", played the character Flowerchild in the 2019 film "Once Upon a Time..." which also starred the likes of Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and Al Pacino.
Tarantino has worked with Thurman in cult classics "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill: Volume 1" and "Kill Bill: Volume 2".
Maya, best known for playing Robin in the Netflix series "Stranger Things", said she is ok with having a life she doesn't deserve due to nepotism.
"I've been wildly made fun of for this clip when I said, on the red carpet, that I auditioned. I never meant to imply that I didn’t get the part for nepotistic reasons – I think I totally did.
"'Deserves' is a complicated word. There are so many people who deserve to have this kind of life who don’t, but I think I'm comfortable with not deserving it and doing it anyway. And I know that my not doing it wouldn’t help anyone," she told The Times in an interview.
Maya said Tarantino deliberately added her to the cast, which also included Margaret Qualley (Andie MacDowell's daughter) and Rumer Willis (daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis). He was making an effort to "cast a lot of young Hollywood", she further said.
When she was starting out, the actor said she was asked to "change your name, get a nose job and go to open casting roles". She starred alongside her mother in "The Kill Room" and was directed by her father in the drama "Wildcat" (2023).
But Maya chose another path, she said.
"It’s ok to be made fun of when you’re in rarefied air. It’s a lucky place to be. My relationships with my parents are really honest and positive, and that supersedes anything anyone can say about it," she added.
The actor, who recently released her third album "Chaos Angel", has also been a part of films such as "Do Revenge" and "Fear Street 1".
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